Talent. That's it. Talent.
I'm riding shotgun to the 'Boro as my wife drives so I can continue to prepare for Southern's season opener against a relative unknown group of Yankees from upstate New York and the word "talent" keeps popping up.
No, I'm not referring to the talent on the Great Dane's roster, but rather, the talent on Georgia Southern's sidelines. From what I've seen on a paper and heard from the "coaches-in-waiting" who attend the practices, we have a lot of talent. Oh, we're young (again), but supposedly very talented.
Whether in sports, school, business, or just life, we all know or have known people with a "whole lot of talent" who haven't quite measured up to expectations. Likewise, we all know those who aren't or weren't very talented, but end up being very successful. What gives?
It's the IT factor. Some have IT and some just don't. Coach Russell certainly understood this. Think about some of his Erk-isms...."GATA," "Just One More Time," "Do Right," and "Runts Try Harder." He knew that winning and losing, success and failure had less to do with physical talents and more to do with someone's mental abilities, drive, strength and passion to be the best with the God-given talent he or she has been initially given.
Ahh....that's the other word..."passion."
From Coach Hatcher to Coach Gillespie to Coach Anders to even big Bubba Walker, Koonz, Keith and Ron...I've heard the term "passion" used as one of the descriptions of this group of Eagles. They tell me about how "good" of a group of young men they are and how much fun they have had coaching them so far. How they have showed in practice a true desire to better themselves and those around them. Yes, there are a lot of "unknowns" going into today's game, but there seems to be a certain level of unsaid "optimism" about this group. Almost like we could be on the verge of a very special year. Of course, coaches, "coach-wanna-be's," fans and the players themselves will certainly have a better idea about this season come 6 p.m Saturday at the Prettiest Little Stadium in America. Because this is the only game that matters... The Great Danes from Albany.
You've all heard it before from Coach Russell and those of us who like to quote him all of time... when he would be asked about our great National Championship teams, he would say that "we don't have great players, we have good players who play great together."
The great teams of the past definitely had the "IT." Yes, there was plently of talent, but those players had a high level of passion, played great together and possessed a strong desire to do whatever it took to win. We certainly saw glimpses of this in the not so distant past. If I recall, these Eagles and coaches didn't throw in the towel last year against Western Carolina as we entered the 4th quarter trailing by 4 td's.
We have a lot of talented players on this team, but we must have players who play great together.....players that get IT and have IT....players that want to GATA Just one more time for the Blue & White.
I think we have those players who understand what it means to be a Georgia Southern Eagle.
I hope so...and Chris Blair better have that mute button ready for me. I hope to be so excited that he might need to use on me a few times....
